EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 5 JANUARY 1999 AT 10:00:00 ET USContact: Kathi Moore
paffairs@jhsph.edu
410-955-6878
Johns Hopkins School of Public HealthDriver Education Courses May Confer No Safety Benefit
High-school-age persons who enroll in driver education courses do not have fewer motor-vehicle-related violations, crashes, or deaths than those who do not, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. In fact, the scientists said, by providing an opportunity for teens to get their licenses early, such courses may be contributing to higher crash involvement rates among young drivers. The study appeared in the January 1999 issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
An estimated 56 percent of eligible students took such a course in 1995, and approximately half of all U.S. states allow high school students who complete a driver education course to obtain their licenses sooner. The fatal crash involvement rate of licensed teenaged drivers is more than twice that for all drivers combined.
Lead author Jon Vernick, JD, MPH, assistant professor, Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, said, "In the absence of evidence that driver education classes reduce crash involvement rates for young people, schools and communities should consider other ways to reduce motor-vehicle-related deaths in this population, such as through graduated licensing programs that implement full driving privileges as the driver gets older.
The researchers reviewed data from a number of past studies that had measured the effects of driver education courses. To be included in the present study, a previous investigation had to include: a control group of students who had not taken a driver education course; participants who were randomly assigned to either the study or the control group; data gathered by objective observers, not reported by the participants themselves; and only high-school-age subjects. The researchers found nine past studies that met these criteria; 18 others had to be excluded.
The present analysis found no convincing evidence at the individual or community level that high-school-age students who completed a driver education course had fewer motor-vehicle-related crashes or violations than those who did not. The study indicated that, if anything, because students completing a driver education course were more likely to get their licenses at an earlier age, they had an increased risk of a violation or crash.
The authors stressed that their conclusions must be interpreted with some caution because the failure of driver education classes to improve violation, crash, or death rates may reflect, in part, an inability or unwillingness of young drivers to use the driving skills imparted in the classes. And many driver education programs have not yet been carefully evaluated.
Nevertheless, the authors noted that, whatever the benefits of a driver education course, completing such a course need not automatically permit students to obtain their licenses at an earlier age. "States should reconsider laws granting early licensure to those who have completed driver education," said Vernick, "and give serious attention to alternatives such as the graduated licensing schemes now being implemented in some states."
This work was supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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